February 2016

Course Selection Night

On Wednesday evening, February 17th 2016, you are invited to come to the Secondary Campus to hear all the information, opportunities and requirements that will be necessary for the following year. The evening will be divided into two major parts with each grade receiving an information session specifically for the grade level’s upcoming situations and an Open House to discuss and talk to teachers about different courses and programs that students may be interested for future opportunities. Please be aware of the different times periods based on your students grade for next year in planning for the evening.

The purpose of the evening is to properly inform and answer questions that will prepare students for the upcoming school year. No course selection forms will be received this evening. Instead please investigate and discuss the different options and prayerfully consider what your family believes is best for your student as they equip themselves to make an impact as a Christ follower. We look forward to your partnership as you create the future now as RCS prepares for another exciting school year.

Mr. Jason Paul
Principal
Secondary Campus

SCIENCE FAIR

Curiosity. Imagination. Hard work. Perseverance. Learning. Science!

On February 2, 2016, the Secondary Campus held their biannual Science Fair celebrating the minds and accomplishments of Grade 9-12 students. Parents, friends and staff supported the event through discussions with project presenters, watching chemistry demonstrations and viewing the energy transfers during the Rube Goldberg challenge.

Attendees also contributed to the fun by entering the trivia draw and selecting People’s Choice award winners. We are grateful to the RCS community for their continued support as we build a science program that encourages thoughtful reflection to answer relevant questions, and that fosters appreciation of God’s world as He’s given it to us to explore, care for and enjoy.

Category and Grade Winners were selected for the scientific thought, originality and contributions to understanding that their projects evaluated and advanced.

RCS @ Night

As a Principal I wish that a time machine could be a reality for our community at RCS. I would use the time machine to travel back to warn parents about the broken situations that they are headed towards. More often than I like to admit, I have situations that occur at the Secondary Campus that are messy and complicated. As a Principal, it breaks my heart to see students and parents wrestle though difficult times as they may be repeating unhealthy patterns that simply add to the continued brokenness. The best time for intervention is not necessarily when something is broken with sweeping changes but making small changes before the brokenness occurs with preventative measures.

It is with this in mind that the Secondary Education Committee is hoping to help support and resource all three campuses at Richmond Christian School with an opportunity for some preventative measures. The RCS student who may find addiction, depression, anxiety, and/or unhealthy applications concerning communication, authority and identity does not start at Grade 10 but early on in their school careers. Raising students is difficult enough but an RCS family may be unaware that their decisions concerning their students could be creating an atmosphere and trajectory for a complicated future. RCS desires families to be intentional as they wrestle through the variety of decisions families face through all grades at RCS.

Our mission at RCS is to “equip all students to joyfully serve Christ in all aspects of life” and the best way to equip students is to empower and resource the fundamental aspect of every family, the parents. As such the RCS Board has approved a program called RCS @ Night. The program will offer in-depth courses to resource and connect parents across the different campuses in order to learn from one another and learn from experts in a specific area. A survey will be sent out in the near future to all 3 campuses to get parents input and insight into what would be helpful, interesting and manageable as we set up RCS @ Night. Your time and thoughts are invaluable in creating the most useful and successful support system for the RCS community. Thank you for your partnership as we try to intentionally support our RCS families to be foundational in equipping their students to joyfully serve Christ in all aspect of life.

Mr. Jason Paul
Principal
Secondary Campus

Chemistry 12 Magic Show

On Wednesday, January 20th and Friday, January 22nd, 2016, the Chemistry 12 students performed their “magic show” chemistry demonstrations to fellow grade 8, 9, 10, and 11 classes. These chemical demonstrations were based on units, such as the Reaction Kinetics, Equilibrium, Solubility, and Acid/Base Chemistry Units, covered in Chemistry 12 thus far.

The Grade 8 students from the Middle Campus were able to ask the Grade 12 students what secondary school life was like, while the Grade 9 and 10 students at the secondary campus asked questions about what senior Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Calculus were like.

(Photo credits Charmaine C. and Kaitlynn L.)

Secondary Athletics

Winter sports at RCS = Basketball. This year we have a Junior Boys and Girls team as well as a Senior Boys team. The teams are wrapping up the season play and will be entering playoffs shortly. Highlights for athletes and coaches include: road trips and team bonding, close competition, developing new skills, tournaments and come from behind wins. These teams will be featured at the end of their season.

February is a month of overlap as Basketball finishes up and organization begins for our Spring sports team including: Badminton, Track & Field and 9 Boys Volleyball. Badminton and Volleyball have open gyms prior to try-outs to allow students the opportunity to refresh their skills and muscle memory prior to try-outs. Please refer to the HS Athletics Calendar on myrcs.ca for the dates for open-gyms, tryouts and practices. There are no try-outs for Track and Field; however, athletes wishing to join this team are expected to be at a team meeting on Tuesday, February 9 at Lunch.

Ms. Michelle Contant
Athletic Director

Science 9 Field Trip to the Planetarium

On Thursday January 21st, 2016, the Grade 9 students went on their first field trip of the year to the MacMillan Space Center in conjunction with their study of space in Science class. The students had an enjoyable time reviewing the concepts they have learned over the term about light spectra and the composition of stars, shapes of galaxies, constellations, the life cycle of stars, and so much more!

“I enjoyed the colour of fire demo the most because it looked dangerous and was interactive and the host guy was funny.” – Ethan S.

“I liked the universe program because it was realistic and it seemed like I was actually there. And it was overall very relaxing and I just sat and looked at the stars. And stars and constellations were clearly defined it was like an actual night time.” – Howard C.

“During the planetarium field trip, I enjoyed watching the “Colour of Fire” demo. The presenter was very engaging was entertaining. Watching all the different colours of fire was quite interesting.” – Darren W.